18 *
EggIndustry
COMMENTARY:
Defining success for
avian flu vaccination
There is significant disagreement among poultry producers in North
America as to what the definition of success is for an avian influenza
vaccination program.
BY TERRENCE O'KEEFE
by WATT Global Media during the past few
weeks have stressed the importance of only
using vaccination as part of an eradication
program and that infected vaccinated birds
should still be euthanized. This is not the approach that has been taken to attempt to control the H7N3 avian influenza outbreak in
Mexico which began in 2012.
Avian flu vaccination
in Mexico
Vaccination was first
used as a control measure
for highly pathogenic avian
influenza in Mexico in 1995.
Use of vaccination with an
inactivated oil-emulsion
vaccine derived from H7N3
virus isolated from a duck
was approved in 2012 as a
control measure for the current H7N3 outbreak in response to the severe
bird losses the industry was experiencing. This
vaccine is still in widespread use and flocks are
still becoming infected. There are veterinarians
and poultry producers in Mexico who are
asking the government to approve the
use of an updated viral seed stock for
making a new vaccine, which would
have greater homology to the current field
July 2015 * www.WATTAgNet.com
Photo by maxxyustas/BigStockPhoto.com
➤ The U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) has decided against approving the
use of avian influenza vaccines in the five
U.S. states hit hardest by the current H5N2
outbreak as of June 2015. In the process of
gathering information prior to making its
decision, the USDA solicited comments
from stakeholders. Numerous poultry
veterinarians contacted

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